Folded thought of the day: Okay, this is really strange. I dropped by my favorite neighborhood restaurant last night and ordered my usual dish. And while I was waiting I started talking to a girl who works there. She's really sweet. And she starts going on about the moon. Which is one of my favorite topics. But then I get to work today and a reader had emailed me the exact thing the girl was talking to me about the previous night. Here's the email, which was sent to me by L. Brown. "This year will be the first full moon to occur on the winter solstice, Dec. 22, commonly called the first day of winter. Since a full moon on the winter solstice occurred in conjunction with a lunar perigee (point in the moon's orbit that is closest to earth) The moon will appear about 14% larger than it does at apogee (the point in it's elliptical orbit that is farthest from the Earth) "Since the Earth is also several million miles closer to the sun at this time of the year than in the summer, sunlight striking the moon is about 7% stronger making it brighter. Also, this will be the closest perigee of the Moon of the year since the moon's orbit is constantly deforming. If the weather is clear and there is a snow cover where you live, it is believed that even car headlights will be superfluous. "In laymen's terms it will be a super bright full moon, much more than the usual AND it hasn't happened this way for 133 years! "Our ancestor's 133 years ago saw this. Our descendants 100 or so years from now will see this again." Interesting. I think this calls for a cool moon quote. And one thing I've learned in my days walking on this planet -- when you're looking for a moon quote, you look to one guy... "I'm standing underneath a buttery moon that's all melted off to one side It was just about that time that the sun came crawlin' yellow out of a manhole at the foot of 23rd Street and a dracula moon in a black disguise was making its way back to its pre-paid room at the St. Moritz Hotel" -- Tom Waits ------------------------